Mondays this Fall: Heroes

This series is dedicated to new shows coming this fall. I'll cover a show a day for the next month.

"Heroes"

When: Mondays, 9:00 PM EST
Who: Milo Ventimiglia, Ali Larter, Greg Grunberg, Hayden Panettiere
Where: NBC
What:

I guess it's time to cover a possible winner. One of my fans mentioned she was looking forward to this one, and to be honest, I am too--with some reservations.

The first problem is that there aren't many worse time slots they could have put it in. Head to head with Monday Night Football is tough. That said, I suppose you need to put your best shows against MNF to have any share whatsoever.

The next problem is the format. It's still unclear how these characters will be connected. Will they discover each other and form a modern day X-men? Will the show chronicle their lives separately?

This is by far the best promoted new series so far. They reveal just enough about the characters to make them compelling, and none of the plot. I suspect this show will be a hit, but the true critics will find each episode to be hit or miss.

The talent:

An interesting collection of characters. You'll recognize most of them, but probably won't be able to pinpoint where. They've all done quite a bit of work, but none of them has really hit the mainstream. Mostly bit parts, and lead roles on crappy shows that somehow had longevity (aka the Gilmore Girls). I caught Grunberg on an episode of "House" recently, and he's got promise. Larter was primarily in movies, so we'll see if she can make the transition. Hayden Panettiere (I always thought Hayden was a guy's name...) has been in bit roles of television and movie craptacular, but she's fantastic eye candy.

That leaves us with Ventimiglia. You'll know him as Rocky Balboa, Jr., shortly. He was a Gilmore Girls regular, so I don't know much about him.

Women: 7 out of 10
Men: 5 out of 10

Projected Longevity of the Show:

This one has staying power. The writer is a guy named Tim Kring. He was the writer for "Knight Rider" and a few episodes of "Providence." He was the creator of "Crossing Jordan."

And think how excited I was to discover he was the writer of a the subject of a recent post, and the guiltiest of pleasures, Misfits of Science.

When I wrote that post, I had NO IDEA he wrote both shows. That at least explains why Heroes reminded me of Misfits. Small world, eh?

To be successful, I think they really need to switch this show with "Deal or No Deal," which airs just before it. Game show fanatics will tune in regardless of what else is on. Football will have people watching "Heroes" during commercials and blowouts, and I think it deserves better.

All that said, I think we're looking at a 5 season minimum for this show. Longer if they switch it to Thursdays.